Grant Lichtman

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So far Grant Lichtman has created 805 blog entries.

Considering a Design Challenge? AK12DC Leading the Way

Design thinking is grabbing hold as a mainstream process for problem solving and building value in K-12 schools.  A few school groups are taking it to another level: using regional or district-wide design challenges to deeply embed the skills and outcomes of long-term, sustainable design thinking into their culture and norms. Design thinking is born [...]

By | 2014-09-05T16:09:18+00:00 September 5th, 2014|Design Thinking, Uncategorized|0 Comments

“Focus on Kids, Not Ourselves”: Guiding Principle At Design 39 Campus

The classrooms look huge...but only because there is no clutter of "stuff and the minimalist furniture. "All we have to do is focus on the kids and not ourselves."  That was principal Sonya Wrisley's response as I gawked at the seemingly vast amount of space that her students have in the newly-opened Design [...]

Four Essential Questions for K-12 Design Challenge

In building a design challenge for a group of public schools within the Poway Unified School District, we have defined a short list of essential guiding questions: How might we re-structure foundational elements of the traditional school model (time, space, leadership, allocation of people and budget) to increase effective differentiation of learning that will meet [...]

By | 2014-09-03T19:43:45+00:00 September 3rd, 2014|Design Thinking|0 Comments

Is “Active Engagement” the Key Characteristic of Effective Teaching?

On this Labor Day, remember that schools are founded in the people who work there.  A 2013 Gallup Survey found that: Seven in 10 American workers are “not engaged” or are “actively disengaged” in their jobs, are “emotionally disconnected” from their workplaces, and are “less likely to be productive,” according to Gallup’s recently released study, [...]

By | 2014-09-02T00:25:50+00:00 September 2nd, 2014|Uncategorized|1 Comment

St. Andrew’s Leading in K-12 Brain Research…and In Aligning Strategy to Vision

Is your school community aligned behind a well-defined group of forward-leaning, system-wide learning initiatives? Are you busting or re-enforcing silos with your strategic thinking? Are you using the most recent research in neuroscience to help craft learning routines and differentiate learning opportunities for each child? I had a full day to work with the faculty, staff [...]

By | 2014-08-29T17:20:27+00:00 August 29th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Rapid Prototyping Leads to Insight on Process and Program at Ethel Walker School

Why don't we use faculty meetings for deep and collaborative thinking?  Why do trustees and faculty work on parallel tracks that almost never cross?  Does our school have a portfolio of value-generating innovative projects in the pipeline that will mature over the next 1-3 years? These are some of the expansive questions we asked and [...]

By | 2014-08-28T14:15:05+00:00 August 28th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments

Dear Secty. Duncan: Find the Problem; Solve the Problem

Dear Secretary Duncan, You can't have it both ways: if the emphasis on testing is "sucking the oxygen" out of schools, delaying teacher assessments based on student testing for a year is not a solution. That is the same kind of push-it-down-the-road Band-Aid for which Washington DC has such a deserved, and unfortunate reputation.  Over-emphasis [...]

By | 2014-08-26T10:45:16+00:00 August 26th, 2014|Uncategorized|0 Comments